Followed Danny Gonzales. Bronco Mendenhall moved New Mexico from Regional Program VI to Regional Program V in 1 season.
The clock is already ticking. Monday morning can’t come fast enough, in terms of the improvements we need to make. We played exactly as we were prepared to play, and that was really good feedback to me
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Power Program in his 3rd career season — faster than 46% of the 395 FBS coaches who have ever reached Power Program (rank #194 of 395 by seasons-to-arrival).
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
12–13 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Brian Kelly.
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Fan claims · every quote verified verbatim
He's a very strange man and sometimes a little off-putting, and he was often cringey and self-righteous when he was in Provo.
Let's be real - there is more than a few on here and in the fanbase in general that will never like Bronco because of his time at BYU.
Based on 2 comments across 1 thread · Jul 8, 2026 · via Merlin Olsen Field (Aggie Football)
15th-best Utah State tenure of 22 by the numbers.
Outperforms his recruiting talent on offense and performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Blake Anderson (2021–2024).
| Season | 2025 | 2026 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||
| Record | 6–7 | 0–0 | |
| Postseason | L bowl | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #87 | #97 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||
| Pass rate | 47.5 | 50.0 | |
| Coordinators | |||
| OC | Kevin McGiven | Robert Anae | |
| DC | Nick Howell | Nick Howell | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||
| Offense | 65 | 14 | |
| Defense | 32 | 40 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||
| 1st-down pass% | 47.1 | 48.4 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 36.4 | 46.7 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 28.1 | — | |
A portal-built roster.
Brings in smaller-than-position-typical players than most.
Recruits younger transfers than most — more of a development bet.
1 NFL Draft pick: Jalen Royals (2025)
22nd-best New Mexico tenure of 22 by the numbers.
Outperforms his recruiting talent on offense and underperforms his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Danny Gonzales (2020–2023) · succeeded by Jason Eck (2025–2026).
A portal-built roster.
Brings in bigger-than-position-typical players than most.
Recruits older, more experienced transfers than most.
5th-best Virginia tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on offense and underperforms his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Mike London (2010–2015) · succeeded by Tony Elliott (2022–2026).
| Season | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||
| Record | 2–10 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 9–5 | 5–5 | 6–6 | |
| Postseason | — | L bowl | W CFP | L bowl | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #63 | #58 | #59 | #39 | #48 | #31 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||||||
| Pass rate | 55.9 | 57.2 | 41.9 | 54.1 | 50.9 | 62.0 | |
| Coordinators | |||||||
| OC | Robert Anae | Robert Anae | Robert Anae | Robert Anae | Robert Anae | Robert Anae | |
| DC | Nick Howell | Nick Howell | Kelly Poppinga / Nick Howell | Kelly Poppinga / Nick Howell | Kelly Poppinga / Nick Howell | Kelly Poppinga / Nick Howell | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||||
| Offense | 7 | 7 | 63 | 66 | 64 | 80 | |
| Defense | 26 | 41 | 72 | 11 | 40 | 16 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||||||
| 1st-down pass% | 57.1 | 54.9 | 41.8 | 55.7 | 52.6 | 68.7 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 56.6 | 55.2 | 38.8 | 50.7 | 46.2 | 58.5 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 36.1 | 37.8 | 27.8 | 28.3 | 37.9 | 35.3 | |
Barely touches the portal — recruits and develops his own.
Brings in bigger-than-position-typical players than most.
Recruits younger transfers than most — more of a development bet.
8 NFL Draft picks: Maurice Canady (2016), Micah Kiser (2018), Andrew Brown (2018), Juan Thornhill (2019), Tim Harris (2019), Joe Reed (2020), Bryce Hall (2020), Jelani Woods (2022)
3rd-best BYU tenure of 12 by the numbers.
Outperforms his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed Gary Crowton (2001–2004) · succeeded by Kalani Sitake (2016–2026).
| Season | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||||||
| Record | 6–6 | 11–2 | 11–2 | 10–3 | 11–2 | 7–6 | 10–3 | 8–5 | 8–5 | 8–5 | 9–4 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | L bowl | L bowl | |
| Recruiting rank | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | #64 | #65 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||||||||||
| Pass rate | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 46.0 | 55.0 | |
| Coordinators | ||||||||||||
| OC | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Robert Anae | Robert Anae | |
| DC | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Nick Howell | Nick Howell | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||||||||
| Offense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 74 | 71 | |
| Defense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 75 | 87 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 50.5 | 55.3 | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 40.6 | 46.7 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 43.6 | 31.4 | |
12 NFL Draft picks: Brady Poppinga (2005), Scott Young (2005), Shaun Nua (2005), Todd Watkins (2006), John Beck (2007), Bryan Kehl (2008), Austin Collie (2009), Fui Vakapuna (2009) + 4 more